The First
by lilykins92
Summary: Cordelia made a different wish for Anyanka-even if it was a stupid one.
1. Chapter 1

Cordelia Chase walked down the courtyard of Sunnydale High School. She was the most popular and the prettiest girl in school—at least she had been until stupid Xander Harris had started dating her. Now that wouldn't have been so bad—if he hadn't cheated on her. That had reduced her to the lowest of the low. Right now she was walking with Anya Jenkins, the new kid who didn't know about Xander's stupidity. Yet.

"Anyway," Cordelia continued vapidly, "Buffy Summers was the reason that I completely fell for Xander. Her and her miraculous…oh, what the heck…Slayer Powers."

"Buffy Summers is a Slayer?" Anya asked curiously.

"You know what that is?" Cordelia rolled her eyes. "It's so stupid."

"I know," Anya agreed, taking off her necklace and handing it to Cordelia. "You need this good luck more than I do."

"Thanks," Cordelia said. "How do you know what a Slayer is, anyway?"

"I'm a witch," the vengeance demon explained. "In my opinion nobody needs a Slayer with the black arts around."

Cordelia smirked. "I would so agree with you, except for that Willow Rosenberg. Xander's oh-so-best-friend."

Anya raised her eyebrows at Cordelia. "Was she the one he cheated on you with?"

"How'd you know?" Cordelia asked. "If there's anyone I hate more than Xander right now, it would be Willow…"

"Don't you wish that…?" Anya began, waiting for Cordelia to finish her sentence.

"What?"

"Oh come on," the vengeance demon taunted. "If you could wish anything in the world on Xander Harris, what would it be?"

Cordelia thought for a second. "Wait and I'll give you something truly awful, Anya." She smiled.

"I'm so ready," Anya said happily. "This school is so…" She didn't finish, because she'd almost given away her vengeance secret.

"I've got it!" Cordelia said. She smirked. "Oh, you're gonna love this one…"

Anya raised her eyebrows. "At this point, I'd love any wish you've got, Cordelia." She stared angrily over at Xander.

"You know what I wish?" Cordelia asked. "I wish that Xander Harris was the Slayer…isn't that brilliant?" she asked Anya.

The vengeance demon, however, decided to take her true, veiny form and turned around to Cordelia. "Done."

"What?" Cordelia asked as the world began to fade away. "Wait! That wasn't a good wish. I could have wished that Buffy Summers never came to Sunnydale. Or that Xander Harris had never met Willow Rosenberg. Or that I had never fallen for him. Or that he got syphilis."

As she saw Sunnydale High without any Buffy, she shrugged. "Doesn't matter. This should be good. Seeing Xander as a girl. For a demon, Anya was a good fairy."

Cordelia walked into the school and caught up with Harmony, crossing her fingers to be accepted. To her good luck, Harmony waved at her. "Cordy!" she squealed. "Love the dress."

"Thanks," said Cordelia, happy to be included finally. "What's up, Harm?"

"Nothing really…but we can so do something cool now that you're here!" Harmony squealed excitedly. 

Cordelia didn't want to say anything about Xander—what if he was a girl, and his name was Lisa or something? Now that would be funny. So instead she asked about Willow. "How's that nerd…Willow, I think? She's nice and…completely miserable, right?"

"Oh, yeah, Willow and Xander," Harmony said, rolling her eyes. "The perfect couple."

"Yeah," said Cordelia under her breath. "I go into an alternate universe and they're still together." Then she did a double take. "See you later, Harm." She headed straight to the library.

"Giles?" she asked, roaming around. The weapons were still there, so Cordelia assumed he was Xander's watcher.

"Cordelia?" Giles said, walking out of the shadows. "What on earth are you doing here? You don't belong in the library, you belong in the cheery world of…er…cheerleaders."

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Okay. Right Giles, who's your Slayer?"

"Excuse me?" Giles feigned.

"Oh come on," Cordelia said. "Pointy sticks meet evil vampires; they explode into dust…who does all the pointy poking around here?"

"How on earth do you know about it?" Giles asked, bewildered.

Cordelia crossed her arms. "Never mind. Who's the Slayer? Is it Buffy Summers?"

"How do you know that name?" Giles asked. "She's a potential Slayer, correct, but the real one is Xander Harris."

"And he's a boy?"

"Yes, of course," said Giles. "It's quite irregular, but the Council and I really can't argue with it. Besides, he does quite a good job of it so we aren't complaining."

"Great," muttered Cordelia. "Just great. Where can I find him?"

"Wait a second," said Giles. "You aren't going anywhere until you tell me how you know what the Slayer is."

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," said Cordelia, poking her head into the weapons cage. "Does Willow Rosenberg know about all this?"

"Yes, Willow's a very…capable…witch," said Giles. "You get your hands off those weapons!"

"I wasn't going to touch them," Cordelia said. "I just wanted to know if they were the same ones Buffy used."

"Used?"

"I really promise I'll tell you later," Cordelia said, heading out of the library.

"Cordelia, wait!" Giles said angrily, heading after her.

"I'm not a demon!"

hr

Xander Harris ran towards the slimy, blue demon and attacked it with a spinning kick from behind as Larry, Willow and Oz watched. "Knife!" he yelled to Willow. Willow pulled out a shiny silver knife and tossed it to Xander, who stabbed the ugly tentacle demon through the heart.

"Thanks, Will," said Xander, racing towards the dead demon.

"Isn't he going to disappear?" Larry asked, turning the demon over with his toe. "He looks like Davy Jones. You know—from Pirates of the Caribbean."

"I guess the tentacle demons don't," Oz pointed out.

"He's really slimy," Willow said distastefully.

"You have a point," Xander said. "Slaying is never fun with slime there."

"And it is fun otherwise?" Larry asked.

"Not really."

"Xander!" Cordelia said racing towards Larry, Willow, Oz and Xander. The four of them quickly tried to hide the dead blue demon by standing in front of it.

"To what do we owe this displeasure?" Xander asked.

"I need your help."

"With votes for prom queen?" Willow said. "Sorry, Cordelia."

"No!" said Cordelia. "Giles wants you, Xander. He said you had an overdue book or something."

"Oh," Xander said too quickly. "I'll be right there."

"We'd better go with him," Willow said. "Because…you know…he might need help paying the fines or something…" The three Scoobies scuttled off.

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "That was way too easy." She noticed the blue demon lying dead on the ground. "Ew. Tentacles."

Cordelia ran off quietly to follow Xander, Willow, Larry and Oz as they met Giles. He hadn't asked for the four of them of course, but it was a good way to get them together so Cordelia could explain herself. She wasn't exactly sad about Xander being the Slayer, but it was a little weird, and she was from an alternate universe.

"Cordelia!" said Willow angrily as Cordelia walked into the library unannounced. Several demon books were scattered around, and Giles looked confused.

"Why did you send the four of them to the library?" he asked Cordelia. "I know you are aware Xander is the Slayer, but it was quite unnecessary."

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "I'm from an alternate universe, blah blah blah, some demon did some magic thingamabob, blah blah blah, I wished that Xander was the Slayer…here I am. Ta-da!"

"So I'm not really the Slayer?" Xander asked.

"You are in this reality," Cordelia said. "Like that's a comfort."

"So who was the Slayer in the other reality?" Larry wanted to know.

"It was Buffy Summers," Cordelia told them. "Do you really want to know my life story growing up in a different universe?"

"It could be very helpful," Giles said, taking off his glasses and polishing them.

"Buffy was your best friend the Slayer," Cordelia told Xander and Willow. "Xander and I were dating when he cheated on me with Willow, and I broke up with him. Duh. So this demon girl Anya did this veiny wish thing and I wished Xander was the Slayer. And now he is."

"You couldn't have come up with a better wish?" Larry asked, rolling his eyes.

"Sorry," Cordelia said. "I could have wished…what, exactly on Xander?"

"I don't know! Something—not Slayer-related!" Larry said.

"I thought it would be funny to see him as a girl," Cordelia explained. "But that didn't exactly work like I wanted it to."

"Cordelia, you said that a demon brought you here?" Giles asked, racing towards the reference books.

"Yeah. Her name was Anya, and she had this necklace…" Cordelia took it off and gave it to Giles. "She turned up right after Xander and I broke up."

"Wait," Xander said, pointing fingers between himself and Cordelia. "We…were dating? How? Why? HOW?"

"I had a fit of temporary insanity," Cordelia said. "For a year."

"Why…Cordelia?" Xander choked out. "Why?"

"Sorry to ruin your Broadway act," Oz told him, "but we've got a demon."

Giles held out a book to Cordelia. "Is this the one you saw?"

Cordelia took it. "Looks like. Funky veiny thing." She read a couple words. "This is the demon of bad breakups?"

"Anyanka is a very powerful vengeance demon," Giles said pointedly.

"Of bad breakups."

"Yes, essentially," Giles said dismissively to Cordelia.

"Different universe," Oz said thoughtfully. "That's really deep."

"You never change," Cordelia said.

"Yes he does," Larry said in a fit of bad humor. "About three days a month he changes into a hairy wolf."

Cordelia looked over at him. "Larry? Aren't you a football player?"

"Maybe in your dimension," Larry said heroically. "But here I decided to give up the art of the pigskin for the greater good of destroying demons."

"Okay, okay, different dimension, your point being…" Xander said in the air of someone trying to move things along as fast as they could.

"There's really not a difference," Willow said. "We're all safe here."

"Well, I thought you might want to know," said Cordelia, nettled.

"We would," Giles said. "Now please leave Cordelia."

"As long as I'm here, I might as well be a Scoobie or whatever. I want in on the Slaying," Cordelia said. "I can help. Once upon a time in a different dimension, I killed a vampire with a spatula."

"That's a new one," Willow said, interested.

"i_Thank_ _you_ /i," Cordelia said. "Buffy didn't agree."

"Who the heck is Buffy anyway? Does she even exist in this reality?" Larry asked.

"Yes. She's a potential Slayer who lives in L.A.," Giles said.

"Oh."

"I liked football Larry better," Cordelia told them. "I'm going to help research with you."

"I'm not complaining. Do you see me complaining?" Willow asked.

"Researching Cordelia. That's what you call an oxymoron," Oz said.

"Shut up," said Cordelia, reaching forward to take a book off a shelf.


	2. Chapter 2

-Buffyverse—

Buffy, Willow, Xander and Oz were sitting and laughing (and coming close to an expression, in Oz's case) in front of Sunnydale High School. Having seen Cordelia just a second ago, Buffy leaned forward.

"Where's Cordelia?"

Xander coughed. "A little moral support, Buff. Bad breakups do not equal good friendship." He scooted away from Willow.

"No seriously!" said Buffy, rolling her eyes at Xander. "I saw her just a second ago talking to Anya or whatever her name is, and now she's gone?"

"And we care because…" Xander added.

"Stop being so insensitive, Xander," Willow said, scooting away from Xander. "Why do we care exactly?"

"I don't know," Buffy said. "Usually she's nearby ready to make some snooty comment about how I have stakes."

"There she is," Oz pointed out. Cordelia was attempting to strike up a conversation with Harmony and the other popular girls of the school.

"Oh," Buffy said. "Okay then."

"Why is she talking to Harmony?" Willow wondered. "They kind of kicked her out of their group."

"Who cares?" Xander asked.

"She's not really all that bad, Xan," Buffy told him.

"Moral support, please," Xander reminded her.

"You're the one who cheated on her," Buffy said. "What did you expect her to do?" Willow coughed very loudly next to Oz.

"I'm going to go find her," Buffy said, standing up. "Be right back." She walked up to Cordelia.

"Hi!" Cordelia said. "Are you new here? I'm Cordelia Chase. Just stick with me and you'll be completely fine. You've really gotta know your losers, like over there? Willow and Xander, they're completely-" Buffy cut her off.

"Amnesia much? I'm Buffy. Buffy Summers. You know me right Cordelia?" Buffy was kind of worried by this point.

"Oh," Cordelia said. "You talked to me this morning, right? Sorry, I forgot."

"No," Buffy said, really worried by this point. "I've been here for two and a half years, Cordelia."

"Oh. Then total loser," Cordelia said, walking away.

"What the heck?" Buffy muttered, hurrying back to her own friends.

"What's up with her?" Willow asked.

"I don't know. It was like she didn't…even know who I was," Buffy said, confused. "It was weird."

"I bet Giles will know what's going on," Willow said. "You know, magical demon with vampire powers. All that stuff."

"Yeah," Buffy said. "But it didn't even seem like something was wrong. You know how on the very first day I was here; she was talking to me like a normal person? It was like that."

"That is weird," Xander said. "Do you think she gave herself amnesia to forget that she was dating me?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "No…"

"Let's go find Giles," Willow decided.

"We don't need to."

Buffy looked over at Cordelia trying to flirt with some guy that had turned her down yesterday in a very rude way. Then she watched her attempt to talk to Sally Parkman, who everyone knew had been kicked out of the popular circle a year ago and was now classified as a bigger loser than Jonathan.

"Let's go find Giles," she agreed. The four of them walked off to the library where they knew Giles would be.

"Buffy," Giles said, walking forward and taking off his glasses. "Have you seen-"

"Cordelia," Buffy finished for him. "We know. She's been acting really weird lately."

"I was going to say the newspapers," Giles said, putting his glasses back on, "but tell me what's happening with Cordelia."

"It's like amnesia. She doesn't know who Buffy is, and she's treating her like some popular girl," Willow said. "It's like she forgot what happened through the last three years or something."

Giles tilted his head. "I've never heard of anything like it. Are you sure this is happening?"

"Yes," Xander said. "Very much yes."

"She was talking to Sally Parkman," Buffy added. "Do you have any idea how jeopardizing that is to your popularity?"

"You think there's a demon out there making her talk to unpopular people," Giles said.

"Yes."

Giles huffed a very British sigh at them. "Go find Cordelia, and I'll talk to her."

"Okay," Buffy agreed. "Will, do you want to come with?"

"What? Oh. Okay," Willow said.

The two of them left the library, leaving Oz, Xander and Giles sitting awkwardly at a table covered in demon books about the Mayor.

"So how's it going?" Xander asked.

hr

Willow and Buffy raced up to Cordelia, who was once again trying to talk to Harmony and some of the other Cordettes.

"What do you want now?" Cordelia asked the two of them.

Willow stared at Buffy. i _I've got nothing_. /i

"Oh!" Buffy said. "Ms. Mooney wants you to check out some books at the library about…Egypt. And mummies. And all that stuff."

Cordelia raised her eyebrows. "Who's Ms. Mooney?"

"The substitute," Willow stammered. "Obviously."

"Yeah, right," Cordelia muttered. "Be right back," she told the group, who obviously looked like they were waiting for her to leave.

"Going now," Willow said, and she and Buffy raced back to the library.

"Egypt," Cordelia said as she walked towards the school. "I didn't know we were learning about Egypt."

Cordelia banged open the doors of the library to see Giles, Willow, Xander, Buffy and Oz standing there.

"Who are you?" Xander asked.

"Cordelia Chase," Cordelia said, rolling her eyes.

"Wait," Giles said. "Who am I?"

"I don't know? Some new librarian," Cordelia said. "What happened to Mrs. Wartis?"

"Dang it," Buffy muttered.

"What the heck is going on?" Cordelia asked. "I'm not in some different universe or something, am I? Like some stupid science fiction movie? Xander, Willow, if this is some lame joke, you are completely in for it."

"No joke," Willow said.

"Right. So I am in a different universe. Yeah. Like I'm supposed to believe that," Cordelia said.

"Actually," Giles said, "you might be."

Cordelia laughed. "Insane much? I'm going to go find Harm. Have fun trying to convince someone else." She tossed her hair to the side and started to walk out of the library.

"Oh well," said Xander, completely over it. "I'm telling you, she gave herself amnesia to forget that she was dating me. Where's the proof that she's a demon or something anyway?"

Willow sighed. "We did kind of jump to conclusions, but she didn't know who Giles was. Or Buffy. That's weird."

"I still think something's wrong," Buffy said, crossing her arms.

"She doesn't seem to be in any…immediate…danger," Giles said. "Let's just watch her and see what occurs."

"You're overreacting," Xander said, rolling his eyes.

The librarian said quietly, "I think I know when a demon is in charge better than you do." Xander made a face and walked away.

Neither Giles nor Xander knew that no demon was behind this except Anyanka.

~~Xanderverse~~

Larry laughed out loud. "He thought I was the werewolf, not Oz? Xander, are you sure you're not crazy?"

"Oh, he completely thought the werewolf was YOU!" said Cordelia, smiling. "He told me later you were in denial."

"That's so weird," Larry said. "I mean, I'm not a werewolf in this reality. I hope."

"I think you'd know by now," said Xander.

The four of them—Larry, Cordelia, Willow and Xander—had been swapping stories for the last hour while Oz sat there quietly listening in the way he usually did. Now Giles walked out of the office of the library looking very grim.

"What big bad is about to attack us?" Cordelia asked, interrupting the storytelling.

"The Master," Giles said with a heavy sigh. "One of the oldest, most powerful vampires eve-"

"Ever to exist," Cordelia finished for him. "In my reality, we have so been there, done that with the Master."

"So you know how to defeat him?" Giles asked anxiously.

"Oh, yeah, I'm pretty sure," said Cordelia.

"How?" Larry said quickly. He sat on top of the table.

"Do you have Angel in your reality?" Cordelia said.

"We did," Xander said with a derisive laugh. "He's dust now."

"Angel's a good vampire…most of the time. You didn't make him happy did you, Xander?" said Cordelia, worried.

"No, of course not!" Willow said, surprised. "He was a vampire. Angel staked him. End of story. So how do we beat this Master vampire?"

"I'm not sure…we had Angel on our team to find the vamp nest where the Master was hanging out. But…" Cordelia shrugged. "You could probably find it on your own."

"Are you sure you're not delusional?" Oz asked reminding everyone he was there.

"Yes. We found that demon of bad breakups, remember? It totally proves I'm not delusional," Cordelia said. "Okay. So the Master. That was like, two years ago. Buffy died and Xander brought her back, I think."

Giles took off his glasses. "Of course. It reads in the books that the Slayer must die by the hands of the master."

"So I have to die?" Xander said. "No deal."

"There's always CPR, you know," Cordelia told him, faltering. "I'm not doing it!" she defended herself. "I made this wish to get away from his stupid lips! And Willow-don't you touch him. And Giles okay I'm not even going to go there and fine I'll do it," she said all in a rush. Then she realized nobody was saying anything.

"I'm still stuck on…me dying," Xander said. "I mean, dying. DYING."

"It's a little harsh," said Oz. He went to stand next to Willow.

~~Buffyverse~~

Buffy sat behind a tree where Cordelia was striking up a conversation with Michaela, a Cordette.

"Do you still have that trophy?" Cordelia asked Michaela.

"What trophy?" Michaela leaned against the tree.

"The one you got last year from Willow. I forget why," said Cordelia, sighing.

"I never got a trophy."

"It was right after the Mayor attacked the Bronze at that dance and Xander was all, like DYNAMITE man, and there was that huge snake and the whole Bronze blew up," Cordelia said, rolling her eyes and sitting down.

"What? Cordelia are you okay? The Bronze is fine." Michaela looked down at her, worried. At this point, Buffy was too.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. They must have fixed the Bronze fast," Cordelia said.

"Cordy, the Bronze was never blown up or anything," Michaela told her. "Are you really sure you're okay?"

"She's fine," Buffy said, walking around the bend of the tree. "She's just a little dizzy—you know she was just sick. I think…I'll take her to the nurse now."

"Okay?" Michaela called after them confused.

"What the hell?" Cordelia asked. "I'm not sick, am I? The Bronze burned down, right?"

"There's a lot that you don't know," said Buffy. "There's something up and Giles might be able to fix it."

Cordelia laughed. "Are you trying to pull alternate universe on me…again? Is, like, the whole school involved? Bye. I don't want to be seen hanging out with a loser like you."

"Come i_on_/i," Buffy said. "I don't know if you're in an alternate universe. I do know something's wrong." She pulled Cordelia to the library.

"Buffy, I told you to keep an eye on her, not to bring her here," Giles said, walking down from the upper shelves.

"She knows about the Mayor. She thought the Bronze burned down because of him," Buffy said quickly.

"How on earth does she even know who the Mayor is? This is Cordelia, for God's sake," Giles said.

"I don't know. But she does. Figure out what's wrong," Buffy said. "I'm going to class."


	3. Chapter 3

b~~Xanderverse~~/b

"I've got a question," Oz said, picking up his Coke and taking a sip of it. "Why are you hanging out with us if you made this alternate universe to get rid of us?"

"I didn't make it on purpose! I didn't even know it was going to be made. It was a teenage demon trying to make me wish. Sorry I was kind of heartbroken after a breakup," Cordelia said, rolling her eyes and walking over to the vending machine.

"She was heartbroken…over me?" Xander asked, confused. "Way cool."

"Xander," Giles appeared out of nowhere. "I must speak to you immediately."

"Why?" Xander wanted to know.

"It involves crucial information about the Master. Please come quickly. It turns out that you may be resurrected after your death, just as Cordelia claimed." Giles attempted a smile, but it turned out into a grimace. "Then you are left free to kill the Master, taken by surprise."

"Wow. Cordelia was right," Xander said, staring down at the brunette kicking the soda machine to attempt to get it to give her root beer.

"Xander…" Giles stared at Cordelia who had gotten the soda, smiled at Harmony who was looking at her strangely, and walked back to Larry, Willow, and Oz. "You have a point. Could you please come to the library NOW? I would greatly appreciate it if you would listen to me for about two seconds to prepare to fight the Master."

"Alright, alright, I'm coming," Xander said, holding up his hands. He nodded at the Scoobies in a—Giles is making me go now so sorry but I'll be back later and I'm really hoping you're catching this all in one teensy little nod and this is going on way too long and I've got to train so later—way. Everyone understood except Cordelia, who only looked freaked as she popped open the can of soda.

"What the heck was that? Some sort of code-headshake?"

"Pretty much," Larry told her. "It basically means Giles is making me go now so sorry but I'll be back later and I'm really hoping you're catching this all in one teensy little nod and this is going on way too long and I've got to train so later."

"You can get all that from one headshake?" asked Cordelia. Oz nodded at her. "Well, not from you, Oz, because you're the man of few words, but you can get all that from XANDER?"

"You get used to it. Giles makes him train a LOT," Willow said, reaching down to get a notebook and opening it to some sort of witchy symbol.

"He really does," Cordelia agreed. "Too much."

"He does have to face the Master," pointed out Larry, raising his eyebrows at Cordelia and taking a bite of Jell-O. "That's a lot."

"You have a point," said Cordelia, drinking some more root beer. "But Buffy didn't really train that much except when she was trying to beat Faith."

"Faith?"

"The other Slayer," Cordelia explained. "Don't you have two Slayers?"

Willow snapped her notebook shut after carefully sketching a symbol and writing some words. "Two Slayers? That's impossible!"

"We had two in my dimension," said Cordelia, "when Buffy died another one got called or something…oh, that's right, Xander hasn't died…"

"So after Xander dies at the hands of the Master there'll be another Slayer called?" said Larry, picking out the marshmallows in his Jell-O.

"Yes?" said Cordelia, confused. "I think so. At least there was. I think those are the rules." She watched Xander make his way back through the cafeteria to the four of them explaining that Giles wanted to research by himself…more.

"Yeah," said Oz in response to Cordelia.

"Who do you think it will be? The Slayer, I mean?" Willow asked excitedly. "Maybe that…Faith will get called. Or Buffy. We could bet on it. Like poker…with people." She realized what she was saying and turned to Oz, who put his arms around her.

"Harmony said you two were a couple," Cordelia said, pointing from Xander to Willow in confusion.

"Harmony is so accurate these days," Larry said.

"I'm single and ready to mingle," said Xander, laughing. Cordelia stared at him, and he defended himself with: "I heard that on a TV show, and I've been dying to say it. So what are up with…um…poker people?"

"Cordelia said that if you die another Slayer will be called," explained Willow.

Xander looked over at the library in sudden realization. "I bet that's what Giles wanted to research."

The five of them sat in the cafeteria-they may have been from different universes, but there was no pain or suffering that there had not been in the first world.

Anyanka was extremely angry.

hr

b~~Buffyverse~~/b

Cordelia slouched at a table. "This place is creepy. And what the heck happened to Mrs. Wartis?"

Willow gasped in realization. Giles looked over at her, dropping a heavy book on his foot in the process. "What, Willow?"

"I just realized…I hadn't really thought about it…Cordelia might just have some amnesia," Willow said. "Mrs. Wartis was the librarian before you. And the last time Cordelia came in here…like, before Buffy…was a really long time ago."

"That could be true," Giles said reflectively as he watched Cordelia fiddle with a necklace. "That would make things a lot simpler—as she doesn't seem to know anything."

Buffy and Faith walked into the library and into the weapons cage to grab an axe. "Whaddaya doing?" Willow called to them.

"Big…fat…demon," Faith said to her. "Killing it."

"Have fun!" Willow called as Buffy hefted the axe. "Don't die!"

Giles sighed and returned the book he'd dropped-i_A History of the Vengeance Demon_/i-to its proper shelf and walked down the steps to Willow. "Perhaps you're right and it is just some sort of odd amnesia. But we had better discover what kind of odd amnesia it is first."

Willow nodded. "Fair enough." She looked down at Cordelia who was fixing her hair in a pocket mirror. "Are you even paying attention to us, Cordelia?"

"No," Cordelia said, running her fingers through her hair and playing with her necklace with the other hand.

"I like your necklace," Willow said, trying to make conversation. "Where'd you get it?"

Cordelia looked down as if she was just seeing it for the first time and frowned. "I don't know."

"You don't know where your necklace that you've been playing with for the last hour came from?" Willow looked at Giles. "Demon?"

He glanced at Cordelia. "I doubt it. Let me examine her necklace." Giles reached down and took the necklace from Cordelia without asking her.

"HEY! Give that back!" Cordelia said angrily.

"It's okay, Cordelia," Willow reassured her.

"No, it is not! Since I don't remember where it came from I must have gotten it from my grandmother," Cordelia said reasonably, but Willow rolled her eyes.

"What does your grandmother have to do with anything?" she asked, handing Giles a thick book. Giles flipped it open.

"She owns a jewelry store in Tampa Bay," said Cordelia.

Willow watched Giles flip through books for a second and then turned sharply as Buffy came back through the door panting.

"Demon dead?" Willow asked. Buffy nodded.

"Yeah. We stabbed it with a big axe." She stared at Cordelia. "What the heck is she doing here still?"

"She had this necklace," Willow explained. "Giles is researching it. It was your idea to bring her here anyway."

Buffy walked up to Giles. "Did you find anything?"

"Not so far," Giles said. "I'll keep looking." He flipped a page and gasped. "I do believe I've found it."

Willow leaned over to see the book he was holding. "That looks like the necklace. What's it for?"

"It holds the power of…Anyanka," said Giles, reading a little bit.

"Who's Anyanka?" Buffy asked curiously.

"She's a very powerful vengeance demon," Giles told her. "She brings chaos on men who broke up with their girlfriends in a…bad way."

Buffy gasped. "Xander!"

"Wait…Cordelia's a demon?" Willow asked.

Giles flipped a page. "No. According to this Anyanka transfers the power to the girl in question, and when the girl makes a wish, the necklace stays with her until Anyanka comes to take it back."

"What did she do to Xander?" Buffy asked.

"We'd better find him," Willow said.

Buffy nodded. "Do you want to come with, Will?" Willow nodded, and the two of them walked out of the library, leaving Giles and Cordelia.

"What did you do to him?" Giles asked Cordelia suddenly.

"What? Nothing. I don't even know what you're talking about—I mean what the heck, demons?" Cordelia looked confused.

"Oh," said Giles softly. "Oh. You didn't know who I was, you didn't know who Buffy was, you didn't know you were dating Xander…" He sighed.

"What?" Cordelia was officially freaking out.

"You aren't Cordelia."

"Of course I'm Cordelia! Are you insane or something?" Cordelia picked up her purse and began to walk out of the library, but Giles stopped her.

"I phrased that wrong," he said. "You're Cordelia. But you're not…this world's Cordelia."

"Yeah. I am. How many worlds are there? Because you're from the insane dimension." Cordelia sighed. "Can I go now?"

Giles stopped abruptly. "Of course not. I need to research Anyanka. Possibly summon her to destroy whatever may have occurred to Xander."

"Oh, yeah, you're definitely right," said Cordelia. "After we research this demon, let's go kill it, and then find some vampires. Seriously? Stop trying to fake me out." She rolled her eyes.

Giles sighed. He didn't want to convince Cordelia that vampires existed—it had been hard enough the first time. Instead he grabbed a stake—it would be easier to show her.

"Come on," Giles said, handing a cross to Cordelia.

If she died…

hr

Buffy and Willow raced towards Xander's house to check on him. When they got there, Xander's mom sent the two of them downstairs to the basement where Xander supposedly was.

"Hey," said Xander, stuffing a piece of popcorn into his mouth while watching some movie with a bunch of guns and sand. "What's up?"

"Are you okay?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Xander told her. "Be quiet. I think Africa's about to get blown up."

"So no…maiming…some demon didn't come attack you?" Willow said nervously.

Xander rolled his eyes. "Praying mantis girl, freaky mummy girl. That was it! No other demons coming this way."

"Are you sure you're fine?" Buffy pressed.

"Yeah, still fine." Xander stared at the screen. "Yes! Africa DID get blown up! And now Sam's gonna save the world and bring Africa back together…"

"What the hell is that?" Willow asked.

"Apocalypse Now 2," Xander explained as if the two of them were stupid.

"Right," said Buffy. "So if any demons come after you, like…demons of bad breakups…"

Xander had to laugh. "Cordelia got some demon after me because I cheated on her? Oh, come on. That's lame. Even for Cordelia."

"I don't think she did it on purpose," said Willow. "She's really freaked out. And confused. She didn't know who Buffy or Giles was."

"That is kind of weird…but we are talking about the same Cordelia right?" Xander popped some more popcorn into his mouth.

"Yes." Buffy sighed. "I'll stick with you in case Anyan…" She didn't finish.

"What?" Willow asked.

"Anyanka…Anya…Anya, Cordelia's newest friend," Buffy said. "What if she was the demon?"

Willow gasped. "Anya…Anyanka. I bet she was!"

Xander shrugged. "Let's ask Giles."

"Is he still at the library?" Willow asked.

"He might be," Buffy said.

"Wait. I want to finish Apocalypse Now 2," Xander said. "I bet anything Sam will restore Africa to its old African-ness."

They watched the movie for a few seconds. "We've got to keep going, men! We've got to take that hill. Damn this war! Men? Oh my god, what's happened to my MEN!"

Buffy took a piece of popcorn. "Wasn't that exact same line in the LAST movie?"

Xander stared at the movie. "Yeah. But this time the guy's name is Sam and they're in Africa."

"That's great," Willow told him.

"Yeah." Xander took the bowl of popcorn to go refill it.

"So Anyanka. Big bad vengeance demon," Willow said, trying to make conversation. "Weird."

"I know. But according to Giles she's superpowerful," Buffy said, watching the movie. "Oh come on. You're gonna shoot him from that distance? You'd never make it."

Willow raised her eyebrows.

"Sorry. So Anyanka. Right." Buffy looked away from the movie for a second and then turned back when the man made the sniper shot from what looked like miles away. "This movie is SO fake."

Xander came back over. "More popcorn, anyone?"

"Sure. We'll just hang out here for a while," said Willow.

"Fine with me," Xander said, stuffing a giant handful of popcorn into his mouth.

hr

"Morbid much?" said Cordelia loudly as Giles moved silently through the graveyard.

"Be quiet," he whispered, stopping by a gravestone and sitting down. "We'll wait until some vampires come up."

"Fine. I'll sit with you until you can prove that you're completely insane," Cordelia said.

"Cordelia. Be quiet." Giles stood up with his stake and looked around. "And don't scream if a vampire comes out. If you're from a different dimension, you might not ever have seen one."

Cordelia smirked. "Vampires do NOT exist."

Giles was about to resort to his speech about the Slayer. I_There is a Chosen One. She alone can stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer. /i_

But he didn't.

Instead he waited for the first vampire to come out.

Because it was important for Cordelia to know what really existed, and what was really out there.


	4. Chapter 4

**~~Xanderverse~~**

Xander walked carefully towards the Anointed One. "Lead me," he said. The Anointed One nodded silently in an expression of agreement and led Xander to the Heckmouth. The Anointed One was certain they were alone.

He couldn't have been more wrong.

Cordelia, Giles, Oz and Larry stood silently behind a nearby tree. Willow was at home studying for a math exam (Giles had excused her because they now had Cordelia on their team.)

"The Anointed One is REALLY stupid if he didn't see us," Cordelia whispered to Larry as she watched Xander and the Anointed One walk off silently from a clear view. The Anointed One went behind a bush. Giles hit himself hard on the forehead.

"Of course! The Heckmouth is right inside our own library!" He sighed. "I should have known…"

"It'll be really easy to get to it now," said Cordelia encouragingly. Giles rolled his eyes at her.

"Certainly it will, but we could easily have followed the Anointed One," he said. The four of them waited…and waited…and waited.

"Do you think Xander's dead yet?" Larry asked.

"No idea."

Cordelia suddenly pointed to a white-faced vampire arising from a nearby bush almost…majestically.

"There's the vampire! The Master! Let's go." The four of them raced towards the bush where the Heckmouth lay. It was a dark cavern full of flickering candles, a river, and strangely, a huge cross. Xander lay face down in the river.

"No," Cordelia whispered as Xander lay on the floor, dead. She knew it wouldn't last, that Xander hadn't even died from a vampire's bite, but it still looked horrible.

"Go!" Giles urged her on.

Quickly and tentatively Cordelia rushed over to Xander. "CPR right?" she asked in general, trying to postpone touching her lips to his one last time.

Oz nodded. Cordelia rolled Xander over onto his back and placed a hand on his chest. She reached down and began to breathe into him, and then pushed down on his chest to give CPR. Xander coughed slightly, and Cordelia looked down. She breathed into his mouth again, and Xander opened his eyes.

Cordelia's mouth was inches away from Xander's. Xander looked alert as Cordelia, almost without thinking about it, led him into a kiss.

Hr

"NO! She told them how to defeat the Master! They are perfectly happy! They're BACK TOGETHER! There is no disappointment, no chaos, no…no…suffering!" Anyanka slammed her hand against the table, making a loud cracking sound. She added softly, "No death."

D'Hoffryn looked peacefully on. "You do understand, Anyanka, that you have done many spells of the Wish that have not caused chaos."

Anyanka shook her head. "Not this kind. D'Hoffryn, you don't understand. This girl…wished that Xander Harris was the _Slayer_. That…is a big wish. Not wishing…that there's no _shrimp_ in the world."

"Anyanka. Do I hear what I think I may be hearing?" D'Hoffryn asked. "You think…that you are losing your touch. That you can no longer cause enough vengeance."

"NO!" Anyanka slammed her hand against the table again, cracking the steel. "If there isn't enough chaos, then I guess I'll just have to create some." She glared at D'Hoffryn and stalked off. "And I'll have to collect my necklace, while I'm at it."

Hr

Cordelia and Xander kissed as Giles, Larry and Oz watched. Then Xander seemed to realize what they were doing and how weird it was. He broke away, breathing raggedly.

"What the _heck_ are we doing?" he asked, looking down at Cordelia. "Not that I'm complaining."

Cordelia looked down at Xander. She gasped. "I have _no_ idea." She jumped off of him. "It was…a fluke. That was NOT real. It was just…the CPR…and your being dead…and me having just broken up with you…" She trailed off. "It was a total fluke. An accident."

She looked over at Giles, Oz and Larry standing and staring at the two of them and raced over to join them. "Master. Right. Master. Let's go kill that evil Master." Cordelia was the first one out of the cavern.

"Oh. My. God." Cordelia screamed and Xander came racing up as quickly as he could to find Cordelia.

"What is it Cordy—Cordelia?" he asked, and then turned to see the mass of vampires standing around them. "Oh."

Oz tossed Cordelia and Xander stakes. "Might want those." Cordelia nodded fervently.

The five of them began to fight their way through the masses leaving piles of dark ashes on the ground. Cordelia was quickly surrounded by a large circle of vampires.

"I just want you to know, Xander," she began to say as quickly as she could. The lead vampire began to circle in on her neck. "That it might not have been a i_total_/i fluke. You know. When I kind of just kissed you. And—oh!"

Xander had come up behind her and staked the vampire about to bite her neck. "What were you saying?"

Cordelia turned bright red. "Nothing much. Kind of last words for when I was going to die. Except I didn't. Die."

Xander smiled slightly and turned around to stake a vampire sneaking up behind them. He spun back around to say quietly, "I'm glad about that, you know."

Cordelia turned around and started to walk off. Her words hung in the darkness as Xander staked and decapitated almost all of the vampires. Even after Xander and the Master fought above the library, and the Master was finally gone, staked on a piece of a bookshelf, Xander could not stop thinking about Cordelia's words to him.

"_I know. Because it wasn't a fluke_. _And I can't believe you couldn't remember _"

**~~Xanderverse~~**

"What the heck did she mean? That I couldn't remember? What on earth was I supposed to remember? Why was I supposed to remember it? And what was it about not being a fluke? It was completely a fluke. Nothing else but a fluke. And SHE'S the one who established the fact that it was a fluke. NOT ME!" Xander stopped ranting for a second and stared at Willow. "Do you see where I'm going here?"

Willow nodded, not really paying any attention. She flipped a page in her math textbook and wrote an answer down. Xander smirked in satisfaction.

"Good, because it was SUCH a fluke there is no fluke anywhere else that is anything like the fluke that happened to Cordelia and me!" Xander sat down.

Hr

**~~Buffyverse~~**

"I don't get why she didn't understand that it was a total fluke! It was SUCH a fluke that there is no fluke ANYWHERE else that is anything like the fluke that happened to you and me!" Xander ate another piece of popcorn.

"I know," said Willow mildly. She opened a book with a witchy symbol on it and halfway listened to Xander.

"And then she goes and sends some stupid vengeance demon on me! GREAT." Xander stood up and started stomping off, and then realized there really wasn't any point to stomping as they were all in the basement.

"Relax," said Buffy to Xander. "Anyanka hasn't attacked us yet." She rolled her eyes and started flipping through channels.

"Do you really think that new girl Anya was the demon?" Willow asked.

"I don't know. Maybe." Buffy frowned. She had no idea what was going on to tell the truth.

"Xander, honey," a disembodied voice that everyone took to be Xander's mother called down, "Someone is here to see you."

"Who?" Xander asked, confused.

"Her name's Anya." Everyone sat in shock after hearing the name. Finally Willow said quietly,

"I guess we'll find out if she's the demon."

Hr

"There," Giles said in furious tones, pointing at three vampires walking past the graveyard. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to explain to Cordelia that YES that was a vampire, yes he could kill it, and yes she wouldn't die. Instead he stood up and motioned furiously to Cordelia to watch. His fighting wasn't _as great _as Buffy's was, but Giles could stake a vampire or two. OR three, as the case was.

"Oh. My. God. _What is that?" _Cordelia shrieked as the first vampire turned towards her. Giles snuck up behind it and roundhouse kicked the vampire, tossing Cordelia a stake. When Cordelia didn't do anything with the stake except turn it around in her hands, confused, Giles rolled his eyes, punched the vampire in the face, and staked it in the heart, turning it to dust.

The second vampire attacked Cordelia from behind. Cordelia held up her hands in shock and accidentally staked the extremely stupid vampire, and the third vampire was quickly staked by Giles against the mausoleum.

"What—did you—just kill—what was that?" Cordelia said, terrified. "And what the heck is this stick for? And why—dust?"

"It was a vampire," Giles told her, wiping off his glasses.

"A who huh?" Cordelia sank back against the gravestone.

"A vampire." Giles didn't want to explain anything at the moment. "They exist. That's what I've been trying to explain to you. What did you think was going on?"

"Oh. There are vampires. Yeah. That makes a bunch of sense," Cordelia shrieked and threw the stake she was still holding right at Giles.

"Then tell me what it really was," Giles said, crossing his arms.

"Look, Mr. Giles, I guess it was a vampire or whatever you want to call it. You have been trying to convince me. I'm just trying to say WHAT THE HECK? Vampires exist and I don't know about it?" Cordelia sighed.

"Most people don't," Giles said, attempting to be reassuring.

"Yeah. Well I should." Cordelia lost all of her fight and Giles looked down, thinking of what to say.

"You aren't the right Cordelia. The one everyone expects you to be. That Cordelia does know about vampires," he said finally. Instead of making Cordelia feel better, as he had hoped it would, Cordelia slumped.

"Where do I come from?" she whispered. "What do I do? I don't know how I got here…I just i_am_/i here. I don't know what to do."

Giles looked around for any sight of vampires or demons or the Mayor, and then sat. "There are many forces at work that we know nothing about," he told Cordelia. "And nothing can defeat the power of the Wish."

Hr

"Hey guys!" Anya said brightly. Willow shot Buffy a quick glance. Willow knew Buffy could definitely hurt Anya if she had to, but if she was the demon, they really needed to get some information out of her.

"Anya, right?" Xander said, confused.

"Yeah." Anya gave the three of them a dazzling smile. "Have any of you seen Cordelia?" This time Willow shot Xander a glance. Anya stood in front of them, waiting for a response.

"No…I really don't know," Xander said finally after a few minutes. "I haven't seen her for a while."

"Oh. Well, I just thought, you two being back together again…" Anya trailed off. Actually, Xander interrupted her.

"Us back together again? Are you INSANE? There is absolutely no way!" He stared accusingly at Anya. "Are you trying to play matchmaker or something?"

"Oh crap. Wrong universe," Anya muttered. Buffy's gaze went straight to Willow, and Willow could tell that Buffy was asking with her eyes if Willow had heard the same thing. Willow gave Buffy a miniscule nod. _She's the demon_.

"Wait a minute," Buffy said, taking a step towards Anya. "Could you give Cordy a little memo from me? _Don't befriend evil vengeance demons_."

"Demons? What on earth are you talking about? Demons definitely do not exist. If a demon did exist, I am certainly not Anyanka the very powerful vengeance demon," Anya said in a monotone and automatic voice.

Buffy pinned Anya against the wall. "Well, I guess since you can't give us information, we'll have to kill you."

Anya knew her game was up. She morphed into her demon form. "Think again, Slayer. I'm eleven hundred and twenty years old. You would never be able to best me."

Buffy punched her hard in the face one time. Then she roundhouse kicked her and ducked Anya's punch. The fight went on for some time, the two of them dodging and weaving. Willow and Xander attempted to help, but mostly failed and just got Anya to lose some of her energy. When Buffy got her hard in the chest with a kick, Anya flew up against the wall and crumpled. It was just for a second, but it was enough time for Buffy to knock Anya out.

When she awoke, she was covered in thick metal chains. It was clear that there was no escaping.

"Now," Buffy said in a hard voice. "You're going to tell us what we need to know."

**~~Xander's POV~~**

**~~Buffyverse~~**

I don't get it. Me, the demon magnet. I mean, what have I ever done to anger all those evil demons out there? I don't know. I've just been a good little idiot all through high school. And Willow's been a good little nerd. Wouldn't you think the demons would go after the smart girl? But noo, they have to come and attempt to kill me. Great.

This veiny girl, Anya or whatever was definitely the worst demon yet. It was a really good thing that I believed Buffy she was evil. I mean, last time demons tried to attack me, I was convinced they were good guys, but they were definitely not. Good guys, I mean.

Anyway, Buffy was standing in front of Anya. Demon Anya, not kinda-cute Anya. I really needed to learn how to recognize a demon when I see one. Anya was covered in chains and judging from the fight the two of them had gone through, she had a good shot at escaping.

But Anya didn't even try. Maybe she knew Buffy was way too tough for her. I didn't know. But she wasn't even struggling. Buffy walked up to her and faced down, all set to interrogate.

"What's the source of your power?" Buffy asked coldly. She didn't mind getting straight to the point. I didn't really expect an answer straightaway.

"Like I would tell you," Anya snarled. Yep, I was right.

Buffy hit her (really hard) across the face. Anya looked up angrily, tears in her eyes but from pain, not from sadness or anything lame like that.

"What's the source of your power?" Buffy asked again.

Anya looked around at all of us. Willow was hefting a heavy axe, Buffy had her all-purpose Mr. Pointy, and looking down, and I realized that yeah, I was holding a sword. Anya didn't really have a choice. Finally she heaved a heavy sigh and said quietly, "My necklace."

"Like Cordelia's necklace?" Willow asked quickly, turning to Buffy.

"Cordelia's? It was _never _Cordelia's! It's mine!" Anya said mostly out of pride. Well it was a stupid move. She struggled against the chains.

"Giles said it was the source of her power," I said quickly, making myself sound a lot like Willow. That was a good thing, of course. But not TOO good, because, you know, I didn't have a crush on her or anything. It was just a fluke.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "So maybe we just have to break it and the spell will go away?" She turned to Willow, glancing at her overall pockets. "Do you still have the necklace?"

"I think so," Willow said, digging in her pockets for a second. "Yeah." She pulled out the beautiful necklace and watched Anya's eyes widen as she saw the source of her power.

"I guess Anyanka's going down," I said, cracking a smile. A new nickname popped into my head for Buffy, but I decided to use it later.

Hr

b~~Xanderverse~~/b

"Can you just explain it to me?" I asked. Cordelia just sat there, looking kind of bored. I didn't really understand. After she'd kissed me, and then told me it WAS a fluke, and then _changed her mind and told me it wasn't, _confusing wasn't the word.

"Explain what?" Cordelia looked up at me. "I kissed you." She said it really matter-of-factly.

"That's the part I need you to explain," I said quietly, sliding off of the table. "Did you mean to do it?" It sounded like a really stupid question.

Cordelia didn't respond for a really long time. I knew she'd dated me in this alternate dimension of hers, but she still didn't know what to say to this me that wasn't in the alternate universe. She took a deep breath, and then shut her mouth. Finally she said as quietly as she could, "Yes." The funny thing was, she didn't seem ashamed about it at all.

My eyes widened. "You did?"

"Yeah," Cordelia said, this time louder. I didn't have anything to say to her. I mean I guessed it was a good thing that she was in love with me or whatever.

"Why?" I had to know.

Cordelia's eyes were straight on me. "I missed you, Xander." She brushed her hair out of her face and kept going. "I know this isn't the you I fell in love with, but it feels like it. I don't know if I'll remember what happened if this spell ever gets broken. I don't know if I'll remember falling in love with you again."

It sounded like a speech she'd rehearsed, but not because it sounded rehearsed. It was because it kind of moved me. Cordelia still had one more thing to say.

"But Xander?" Her eyes were swimming with tears and I really hoped Giles wasn't in the next room. "I hope I remember every minute of it."

If this were a soap opera, that moment would be the last second of the season finale. I didn't know if I even liked Cordelia, definitely not as much as she obviously liked me. I could kind of understand that much though, since I was essentially the same Xander she'd left behind, except for the small part of me being the Slayer.

Being the Slayer wasn't all that different from not being the Slayer, as far as I could tell. People still thought I was weird, but in a good way. I still sucked at Algebra 2. There were things that were different. Like the part about the demons. But really, it just explained a lot. The part about Willow being a witch.

When Willow had found out that Oz was a werewolf, she'd been determined to find a way to stop it. She'd delved into witchcraft to find that option. It was a good thing we had a super powerful witch in our little group of demon fighters.

But Cordelia had completely thrown off our mix. She'd helped bring me back to life instead of just having me killed. She'd started kissing me and added romance to our little gig. She'd given us necessary information about the Master. I wanted the spell to be broken for her own good and all that, but I didn't know what would happen. I didn't know if I would remember the new and for-the-better improved Cordelia.

And the funny thing was? That was where we fell exactly on the same line.

The worst thing about being the Slayer was that I had to make the worst decisions. And that's what I did now. "We have to break the spell. We have to send you home," I told Cordelia, without a doubt.

"But?" Here was another proof of how well Cordelia knew me. She knew there was a catch-22 to what I was about to say.

This time there wasn't.

"Nothing. Cordelia, I just really—and I mean REALLY—don't want to forget you." The stuff I'd said just now didn't really sound like me.

It sounded like the Slayer.


End file.
